You're an Idiot
by FrankieFandom
Summary: One-shot. Pre-series. There's an incident in the ER.
**You're an Idiot**

A/N - Popped into my head when I was about to sleep so I thought I'd write it down! Not written anything for House before even though it's one of my all-time favourite shows! Hope it's ok! Thank you Pallada for your help and telling me to upload it!

* * *

It was a bad day. The ER was busy and the nurses were understaffed. There was an unruly patient in bay one, he'd been brought in by an ambulance ten minutes previously, his injuries weren't life threatening, he needed some stitches, he had already been given some painkillers and a neuro exam, he was just waiting for a nurse to suture his two wounds and bandage them so that he could be discharged. The only upside to working in the ER this morning was that Dr House's new underling was hovering around and helping where he could, the nurses didn't question his presence, they were thankful for it especially when the unruly patient in bay one became aggressive towards them. The new doctor swooped in with a syringe full of Haldol but was promptly grabbed after he stuck the needle in and slammed into the nearby wall. There was a sickening crack before the doctor crumpled to the floor.

* * *

"You're an idiot," House stated as Chase found himself waking up blearily wondering where he was and what had happened. If House was there he must be at the hospital, but the last thing he could remember was sitting in his apartment alone having a late dinner as they'd finished solving a case in the early hours of the evening.

"Mmm?" he tried to ask what had happened but his body wasn't listening to any of his commands. He kept his eyes half closed; the brightness of the room was blinding.

"When I said go down to the ER to find a patient I didn't mean become a patient," House stated incredulously.

Chase had no idea what House was talking about, "Whahappen…?" he stuttered out.

"You are an idiot," House stated once more, "And now you're a brain damaged idiot."

The memory flooded back to Chase, "Oh..." slipped out his mouth as he remembered, "I was just trying to give him Haldol…"

"Never pick a fight with a guy that's twice your size Chase, did you never learn that at school?" House asked mockingly.

"He was gonna hurt someone…" Chase mumbled

"Yeah you!" he shook his head, "I hired an idiot."

"House!" Cuddy admonished as she walked into the room, "Dr Chase how are you feeling?" she asked with concern although he doubted the concern was really for him, she probably didn't want rumours going around about patients attacking doctors, it wasn't exactly good press.

"I'm fine," he said quietly.

"You're fine?" House asked incredulously, "Obviously not looked at yourself in the mirror." Chase was sporting an impressive two black eyes and one bruised and swollen left temple, a spectacular coloured bruise on his upper left arm and what appeared to be a hand shaped bruise on his right forearm. "What did you have breakfast this morning?" House questioned.

Chase frowned, trying pull the memory to the forefront of his mind but nothing came, "… Cereal…" he didn't sound convinced.

"Right," House responded sarcastically, "What time did I send you to the ER?"

His mind was drawing blanks, he felt like he was surrounded by fog, he remembered yesterday, he could vaguely picture himself sat waiting in the office this morning for House to turn up, he could remember a call for help in the ER and reaching for some Haldol. Not being able to recall simple memories from the same day was unnerving, he was so used to being in control that the thought of missing chunks of time was about to send him into a small panic.

Chase's thoughts were interrupted. House was calling his name, "Chase? Seriously? I don't want to start interviewing for a replacement," Chase heard Cuddy protest before he looked up at House, frowning, "What time did I send you down to the ER?" House asked again. Chase averted his eyes and didn't reply, "Well you've earned yourself an overnight stay, at least it'll give you more time to hang out with the nurses." He heard what House said but he was struggling to understand the words so he just continued to look dazedly in his general direction, his eyes strained when he tried to focus on anything for more than a few seconds. If he didn't have such a severe concussion he would have realised right away that he had all the symptoms of one, instead he just continued to lay disorientated in bed wondering if it was the world around that was spinning or if it was the cloud like bed he was on.

"Is there anyone you want us to call Chase? I think we can bend visiting hours for you," Cuddy smiled down at him.

"No," he mumbled. He began to shake his head but stopped abruptly when edge of his vision blackened. He'd become friendly with some of the staff in his short time at the hospital but he had had little opportunity for socialising outside of work so far.

"Your father?" Cuddy suggested. Chase knew he wasn't written down as his emergency contact in his file ,in fact he'd left that bit blank; it wasn't exactly hard to get his father's number if there was a true emergency even if it was likely take a while to get hold of him.

"Oh," he mumbled, "Don't call him," he slurred.

"If you're sure?" Cuddy persisted though Chase doubted she wanted his father involved if the hospital was at fault but it wasn't like he was blaming the ER's lack of staff that made him deal with the situation, he just acted like anyone else would. If anything it was his fault for not acting soon. He could vaguely remember the patient becoming more and more agitated.

"The patient?" Chase enquired tiredly; he could feel himself losing his feeble grip on consciousness.

"He's fine, he'll be discharged later," Cuddy explained, "Are you sure there's no one you want me to call?"

"Mmm…" he mumbled, his grip on consciousness very nearly gone.

"I'll let you rest Dr Chase," Cuddy said before she left the room.

An hour later Chase was woken up by an annoyingly chipper nurse, "Dr Chase? Dr Chase?"

"Mmm…" he groaned, his head was in agony and the high pitched shrill from the nurse seemed to be using pierced his skull. He rolled over onto his right side to try an escape the nurse but a hand was placed on his sore shoulder. He couldn't escape the gentle shaking bringing him further out of his stupor. He vaguely wondered if he was this annoying when trying to wake patients up.

"Dr Chase?" the nurse called again, "You can sleep again in a moment, can you just tell me where you are?"

"Hoss…pit…" he mumbled nearly incoherently.

"Do you remember what happened?" the nurse asked.

"Mmm…" he slurred. He could vaguely remember being grabbed and tossed like a ragdoll across the ER before he came to an abrupt stop when he hit the wall.

"Dr Chase?" the nurse called again. Chase finally opened his eyes and looked at her. There was two of her and even in the state he was in he knew that wasn't a good sign. He let his eyes closed again. "Dr Chase?" he was being shaken again, "Do you remember what happened?"

"Imaidiot…" he slurred out recalling House's previous words.

"And he finally learns something," House's booming voice announced as he entered the room, just catching his fellows mumbled words, "Go back to sleep Chase."

The next time Chase was woken up House was sat in his room watching the TV. The nurse asked Chase several questions but rather than answering he groaned at House, "…You… TV... off…" the words that came out weren't at all as threatening as they sounded in his head.

"No idea what you said Chase," House stated and continued to watch the TV.

Chase grumbled, he was far more awake than he had been previously but his head was still throbbing in agony. The light in the room was blinding but at least he wasn't seeing double and the world around him seemed to have stabilised for the time being. The nurse had left the room leaving him alone with his boss, he wanted to ask why he was there but first he wanted his headache gone, "Can I have something?" he slurred with his hand slowly rubbing his head in an attempt to relieve the pressure he felt, "Please can you turn the lights off too?"

"You're a demanding little Brit aren't you? And no you can't have my Vicodin," House stood and Chase watched blearily as he took out his pen torch.

"Don't," he stated, "I know they're probably slow and unequal," he slurred, "Just don't shine that in my eyes. Can you please just turn the lights off… and give me some Tylenol or something?"

"Ah so you have been to medical school," House mocked.

"House…" Chase grumbled in protest.

"Here," House placed a pot of Tylenol on the table beside him and left the room after he turned the TV and the lights off. Chase took a couple off pills with a swig of water and fell back to sleep waiting for them to kick in. He was woken a few more times throughout the rest of the day and into the early hours of the evening before he was allowed to sleep solidly. House made no more visits and Chase showered at the hospital once he was discharged in the morning and was waiting in the diagnostics office for House to arrive mid-morning only to be sent home and told to come back the next day, preferably with the ability to find a case without being knocked unconscious.

 **The End**


End file.
